Why does the WW fear Voldemort? (was: juvenile!Bella)

[stickbook41]

No: HPFGUIDX 126376


John:
> The real question for me concerns the fear and mingled awe Voldy 
> seems to invoke; he's done NOTHING so far to merit people coming 
> over all faint/weakening at the knees/falling off their chair at the 
> mere mention of his name. OK, he's killed/ordered the killing of a 
> few people here and there, but what about the effect he has on his 
> followers? They wouldn't be *particularly* impressed with him, I 
> wouldn't think, after a long line of bungled attempts to kill a 
> teenage boy. He must have done *something* at one point to woo them 
> all.


stickbook:

I had the same concern--that Voldemort was coming across as more a
Charles Manson type than a Hitler.  The only thing I can think of was
that Voldemort did his most of his public damage in a relatively short
amount of time.  To many in the Wizarding World, he burst onto the
scene quite suddenly, even though he had been secretly festering under
the surface for many years (the Lexicon doesn't seem to have many
details to support or refute).  Also part of the shock was that so
many witches and wizards seemed to agree with his beliefs.

Maybe if the WW at large had been paying more attention they would
have nipped Voldie in the bud; but this is the same community that
believes that Harry survived only ONE Voldemort attack, and that is
unwilling to believe he survived the additional four.

In short, Voldemort was such a terror because he was such a surprise,
not only because of his own horriic actions, but also because his
"gift for spreading discord" was so great that not even the Wizarding
authorities could muster enough force to stop him.  Just a theory, of
course :)

stickbook